Darwin never imagined that the biologists would be able to do this because he thought it was an extremely slow process.
What is observe evolution in nature?
100
Rosemary and Peter Grant have been traveling to these islands to do field research for over 20 years.
What are Daphne Major and Genovesa?
100
The Grants analyzed 20 years worth of observation at this university.
What is Princeton University?
100
The finches of the Galapagos are constantly going through this.
What is evolution?
100
In a study that Jamie Smith conducted on sparrows, she did this in order to prove that all birds' traits are inherited from their natural parents.
What is switch the eggs in some nests to other nests?
200
Charles Darwin did not do this with the specimens he collected when he first came to the Galapagos.
What is separate the specimens from each island?
200
The animals of the Galapagos island have recently been forced to deal with this new species coming to the islands.
What are humans?
200
When Peter Boag joined the Grants in 1977, there was none of this, so there was no breeding and many finches died.
What is rainfall?
200
In the dry season, different species of finches' behaviors are specialized because of this.
What is eating different types of seeds?
200
In John Endler's study of guppies in Venezuela and Trinidad, he concluded that changes in environment cause not only natural selection in species but also this.
What is sexual selection in species?
300
Darwin was inspired by this man, who separated animals into categories.
Who is Carolus Linnaeus?
300
Daphne Major has this many different species of finches.
What is thirteen?
300
The Grants have been more successful than other scientists in the past in understanding the differences between the different finches because they come to the island during this season.
What is the dry season?
300
Although usually sterile in other species of animals, these types of finches are prospering and reproducing.
What are hybrids?
300
Martin Taylor conducts study on this type of animal to show how animals mutate and build up resistance to things really quickly.
What are gray moths?
400
Long after his return to England, Darwin became very interested in the breeding of these animals in order to prove his theory of natural selection.
What are pigeons?
400
In 1983, this happened to drastically change the plant and animal life on Daphne Major, and made for a particularly active mating season.
What are heavy rains and floods?
400
During the drought of 1977, natural selection was able to be observed because the Grant's data showed this.
What is the females from each species of finch chose males with the deepest beaks to mate with?
400
Only large and some medium ground finches can eat this kind of seed because it requires too much pressure to crack open for a finch with a small beak. A difference of .5mm can determine whether a medium ground finch can open one.
What is a caltrop seed?
400
Like Lack thought, Schluster found that competition leads to this.
What is divergence?
500
This is the universal measurement for evolution, made by JBS Haldane, a rate much slower that the actual rate of evolution.
What is the Darwin?
500
This makes the Galapagos the ideal place for the study of evolution.
What is the uniqueness and the variety of animals?
500
The Grants discovered that each species learns a specific type of this, usually from its father.
What is a mating song?
500
Unlike after the drought, natural selection favored this kind of bird after the heavy rains because seeds were more abundant.
What are small finches?
500
A study conducted with a fruit flies demonstrated that species can obtain necessary characteristics for survival by this.